San Juan dropping water-testing company

San Juan Capistrano is ending its relationship with a private water-testing company because of missed deadlines that prevented authorities from declaring the city's water safe.

TestAmerica, a national company with an office in Irvine, didn't test the city's water on a schedule approved by the state Department of Public Health during the last half of 2012 and the first quarter of this year. The lab tested the water either sooner or later than required, according to the city. All other tests show the drinking water is safe, but because no tests were conducted during the required schedule, the city can't guarantee its safety, the city said.

Keith Van Der Maaten, San Juan's utilities director, said TestAmerica "has taken full responsibility for the missed test and the errors in following the appropriate testing schedule and has taken corrective action."

Kirk Miltimore, who was hired in March as laboratory director of TestAmerica's Irvine facility, said the problem is not an issue in other cities with which the company contracts, but he declined to comment further. TestAmerica has 90 locations in the United States.

The Department of Public Health notified San Juan Capistrano of the missed tests earlier this year, but "DPH has not indicated that there was any indication of an unsafe condition," Van Der Maaten said.

The city published a notice about the violation in its annual water-quality report and will notify the public again next year, Van Der Maaten said.

"This, again, is a monitoring issue, not a health or safety issue," he added.

The problem dates to 2011, when TestAmerica failed to complete all tests required for one of the city's groundwater wells.

Utilities Department employees are reviewing bids and expect to have a proposed contract with another testing company to present to the City Council on July 16, city spokeswoman Cathy Salcedo said Friday. The new company is expected to begin work as soon as the contract is approved.

The city's agreement with TestAmerica began in September 2009 and is to expire in October. The contract began at $83,000 per year but went to $150,000 annually after the city increased tests and sampling requirements, Salcedo said.